[Locked] Patch Pre-Preview: The List so far

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Let me start by saying - This is NOT a final list. It is a work in progress and is very subject to change.[Updated: 11:30 AM PST 1/30]

Hey Community - I wanted to be as transparent as possible in regards to what my teams proposed changes are going to be. Below are all items we are currently working on or have implemented so far. Some have numbers attached while others don't at this time and that's because we are working towards finding what a good change should be.

Now I know there are about a million things everyone will want to see added to this list and I know you will post them in the comments, but this is a large list so far of things myself and my colleague can tackle right now. Honestly, we don't know if we will be able to tackle all of it so some might come off as we get closer to release. If we have more time and are sipping margaritas on a beach before the patch drops we will try and get additional items in. But like I said - we are working quickly to get these into your hands.

Take a look - give feedback - be civil.

Items marked as [Updated] have been changed for the upcoming patch at this time.

Higher Impact changes

[Updated] Kodiaks: increase cost from 500--> 525, increase build time from 35 to 40, reduce outer most ring of splash damage by 2 and reduce outer ring from 25% damage to 15%.

[Updated] Blisterback: Artillery mode: Added a 3rd ring of splash extended out by 2 radius and add damage for additional AOE that hits for 15%.

[Updated] Forgehog: reduce health by 10% (still investigating aura changes to armor buff for itself and surrounding units) and Aura buff reduction. It currently is a 20%/25% flat damage mitigation for all units including the hero in the aura. This is being reduced to 10%/15% to decrease the survivability with the hero in the mix.

[Updated] AA vs. Air splash ring made smaller and do 15% instead of 25% damage.

[Updated] Hornets speed moved up to match wolverines.

[Updated] HP buff to Air (between 5-10%) per unit 7% for banshee/hornet, 5% for nightingale, 10% to shroud, engineer, and Serina's cryo air.

Quality of life changes that have been requested by community

[Updated] Serena's power node chill: reduced by 30%.

[Updated] Atriox: Fortifications expo base cost reduction of 3%. Eradication buff to explosion damage of 5%; adjustment to ring falloff damage increasing the size of 100% and making the damage falloff more consistent to all rings.

[Updated] Enduring Salvo damage increase.

[Updated] Hunter movement speed +1.

**[Updated] Methane Wagon Y ability base DPS increased by 5%

[Updated] Decimus’ Fury life drain reduced from 50% damage over time to 35% and Active Siphon ability reduced by 1% at each tier to 7%/9%/11%.

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ODST - Silver

Do I get third?

Just from what I see it looks like everything is a great thing. However, it does say Eradication buffs OR Fortifications. Personally I think both need buffs but if only one gets it then it should be Fortifications.

Marine - Onyx

That gives me fifth!

Postums, why doesn't the phantom behave like it does in this e3 footage with a better main weapon. I could see increasing the pop cost of phantoms from 3 to 5 if they got something else in return. Being able to run that many fewer phantoms would hurt Arby a lot, and that cannon from the demo looks more powerful. Where did it go, and can it return?

Other thing that needs addressing is Johnson. While improved, he's still worse then other UNSC right now, and I don't see a stomp upgrade cost decrease doing much for him... Are there any other buffs in the works for my favorite leader? See AYF 001's post here for ideas. Also seems that his digging in passive is not working as intended. I think a decrease to the recharge time of leader powers for him would help most, along with radius and duration increases for the BUFF provided by EMP mac, not necessarily the damage radius.

*edit* Wait I forgot something. Please give us the option for Blitz open in Customs! We want to have Tourneys in this! Please. I literally want this so bad that I dreamed that I logged onto HW2 and my friend texted me saying yo they added customization options for Blitz! And I loaded it up and saw changes to starting energy, fog of war, pop limit, map selection, and BLITZ OPEN! This is not a joke, I love this game so much that it literally is in my dreams.

Marine - Bronze

Honestly, this looks perfect. If I had to make a suggestion or two, I'd like to see UNSC anti-infantry turrets toned down a bit. Rushing against UNSC is pointless, even if you heavily invest in flamers/enforcers/JPB/etc. Additionally, I'd love to see Hero Openers become more viable for anyone who isn't Forge and Arbiter. I'm not sure how it'd be done, but I felt this game was at its best when nearly all leaders could reliably open with Heroes. Other than that, damn, I'm impressed.

EDIT: If I had to make a single request for a change in this game, it would be for Frostravens to be a leader point worth taking. Again, I'm not sure what the best course of action would be here, but I'd maybe like to see the cool-down on the Frostravens Y-ability reduced drastically. I'd be open for suggestions here if anyone has any good ideas. This would certainly be more of a quality of life thing, for sure.

EDIT 2: Wraith Invaders need a heavy nerf. Give these a full pop vs full pop test with other vehicles and prepare to die of laughter/sorrow.

Marine - Onyx

I feel like 2 changes that would be very nice to Ship and (possibly) easy to implement would be making Banished Raid a 2 point power and making advanced cloaking a one point power. Investing all those points for the slight buffs provided by those abilities simply doesn't make sense. It would be nice to at least have some reason to pick them up.

I feel like this is especially relevant to advanced cloaking- it's really neat on tier 2, but dumping 2 points in just doesn't make sense with his other abilities available. This would make shippy focus more on cloaking.

Marine - Onyx

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I feel like 2 changes that would be very nice to Ship and (possibly) easy to implement would be making Banished Raid a 2 point power and making advanced cloaking a one point power. Investing all those points for the slight buffs provided by those abilities simply doesn't make sense. It would be nice to at least have some reason to pick them up.

I feel like this is especially relevant to advanced cloaking- it's really neat on tier 2, but dumping 2 points in just doesn't make sense with his other abilities available. This would make shippy focus more on cloaking.

At this time we aren't going to be adjusting leader power and point costing. I can take a look at effectiveness increases however to all 3 of them.

Recruit - Onyx

Mmm, those patch notes hit the spot. I'd say Marauders' pop should be increased by 1 as well. And I only made my Johnson post 2 days ago General Trex, so I wouldn't expect them to finish verifying all those suggestions so soon.

Marine - Silver

UNSC anti infantry turrets are currently way too effective. I'm thinking a 15% DPS reduction. One or two of those can pretty much negate any rush by themselves.

Wraith Invaders are far too tanky. I get that it's what you guys were going for, but they just do it far too well. Nerf the siphon to nothing (aka pretend it doesn't exist), reduce health and shields by 10%, and DPS by 15%.

Lower cost of Johnson's bunker drop by 50 supply. Its peak usage is likely early game and it's too expensive to actually be used.

Increase cool down of Pelican Transport by 20%.

Original:

This is truly an awesome list. Pretty much everything on there is something the game needs. I'll go long by line with comments:

I think a slight DPS or AoE reduction for kodiaks would be better. Their cost/build time isn't a problem when thinking of long turtle matches.

Blisterbacks should get a range increase. This will make them act better as artillery. They already do decent damage so I don't think that's what's holding them back. A 5% DPS buff would still be welcomed though.

I agree with lowering the Forgehog's survivability. Here's tough to take down in T1 without choppers/ghosts. But the biggest issue with him is the defensive aura he gives to everything around him. It's too much when combined with grizzlies or heavy metal.

Atriox should get a buff to fortifications, somewhere half way between where it is now and what it was at his peak. He has expensive powers and that's his only eco boost. Bulwark should also get a cool down reduction.

I don't think Cutter needs much to make him viable. He's already pretty solid with cyclops back on track. I think only a small health/DPS buff to CAS would be enough.

Shipmaster: range increase for teleport 1 and 2, much greater for 2. LOS increase for scout mine. Perhaps more DPS and less duration for glassing beam? I know others have it too but it's his (and Decimus') only offensive power. Plus the fact that it takes away manual control from microing units tends to throw people off from using it.

A larger HP and shield reduction for base Forgehog and with first upgrade. It's tough to handle in tech 1.

Anything I skipped is something I generally agree with what you had. The quality of life changes all look really good too. A few notes:

Arbiter: increase duration of smaller Stasis power. Increase cool down bonuses from Power Surge. He'd also benefit from a longer teleport.

Recruit - Bronze

T3 damage vs. buildings increase - 15% buff possibly

I'd be careful with how this will effect Johnson. Pelican drop an army of Colossi behind a base with a 15% building damage buff (and mech overcharge) it could be a guaranteed base killer. I don't use Colossi in mass a lot but if I recall they do pretty well against buildings already. I just foresee a possible exploit here. Might be worth a quick test.

Marine - Iron

I feel like 2 changes that would be very nice to Ship and (possibly) easy to implement would be making Banished Raid a 2 point power and making advanced cloaking a one point power. Investing all those points for the slight buffs provided by those abilities simply doesn't make sense. It would be nice to at least have some reason to pick them up.

I feel like this is especially relevant to advanced cloaking- it's really neat on tier 2, but dumping 2 points in just doesn't make sense with his other abilities available. This would make shippy focus more on cloaking.

I approve this message make banished raid 2 point please or make his displacement come back faster or his ultimate.

Marine - Silver

I'd be careful with how this will effect Johnson. Pelican drop an army of Colossi behind a base with a 15% building damage buff (and mech overcharge) it could be a guaranteed base killer. I don't use Colossi in mass a lot but if I recall they do pretty well against buildings already. I just foresee a possible exploit here. Might be worth a quick test.

Some players have recently done some building damage testing and found that T3 vehicles have some of the lowest building damage in the game. I'm not worried about that buff at all, they could use it. THEWALL766 could tell you more about it.

Recruit - Bronze

I'd be careful with how this will effect Johnson. Pelican drop an army of Colossi behind a base with a 15% building damage buff (and mech overcharge) it could be a guaranteed base killer. I don't use Colossi in mass a lot but if I recall they do pretty well against buildings already. I just foresee a possible exploit here. Might be worth a quick test.

Some players have recently done some building damage testing and found that T3 vehicles have some of the lowest building damage in the game. I'm not worried about that buff at all, they could use it. THEWALL766 could tell you more about it.

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I'd be careful with how this will effect Johnson. Pelican drop an army of Colossi behind a base with a 15% building damage buff (and mech overcharge) it could be a guaranteed base killer. I don't use Colossi in mass a lot but if I recall they do pretty well against buildings already. I just foresee a possible exploit here. Might be worth a quick test.

Some players have recently done some building damage testing and found that T3 vehicles have some of the lowest building damage in the game. I'm not worried about that buff at all, they could use it. THEWALL766 could tell you more about it.

I had a long talk last night with Joker, Metaloid, and Scootman I believe is his name. We discussed the spreadsheet he and Wall have collaborated in putting together. Just looking at the modifiers various things in the game have I know for a fact that they could use a buff vs. building damage. I will be diving deeper into them later today/Monday so I don't know all of them yet but will update as the changes are made more solid.